Just fun – Tiger, Spurs on hold

It’s been a good month for Tiger Woods. He’s back to No. 1 in the world in golf, and he’s also near the top in hypocrisy.

Feeling like himself again, he was comfortable last week calling others “sleazy.”

But for all Tiger did Monday, when he won for the third time this season, he mostly entertained and picked up a paycheck. He’s not back, not yet, not unless he wins next month.

The Spurs, with their own tests that will begin in April, feel the same even as they face what could be an eventful weekend.

The two have been prominent for about the same number of years. Tiger turned pro shortly before Tim Duncan did.

Mostly, though, they have shared the era as opposites. They haven’t been the same in endorsement revenue, or in the tabloids, and they were different in their most recent outings, too. The Spurs lost in Houston; Tiger won in Orlando.

For Tiger, the victory was rewarding. He played Bay Hill the way he played seemingly every course in his prime. He crushed the par-5s, and he made putts the way Tony Parker makes layups.

With that, he pulled within five tournament victories of Sam Snead’s record total. And after he shook Arnold Palmer’s hand and signed his scorecard, his standing in golf was official.

“Number 1 !!!!!!!!!!!!!” Lindsey Vonn tweeted.

Vonn, the Olympic ski champion, is dating Tiger. It was their decision to come out publicly as a couple using Facebook and Twitter messages, and Tiger explained why last week during a pre-tournament interview.

“We’re happy with where we’re at,” Tiger said then, “and we also wanted to limit the stalk-a-razzi and all those sleazy websites that are out there following us.”

Not to defend the paparazzi or various websites: But is there a wedge with enough loft for Tiger to find the moral high ground?

Maybe that’s part of Tiger’s comeback, too. His golf game needed his social life to also come around, and it took about five minutes after he walked off the 18th green Monday before he was asked about Augusta.

That’s the standard he has set. After all, two of those who held the No. 1 ranking in Tiger’s absence were Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, for a combined 77 weeks, and neither has won even one major championship.

That’s also how Tiger has defined himself. He announced to the world his childhood goal: to catch Jack Nicklaus in major championships.

So next month sets up for him to break his five-year drought in majors. Or does it? After all, Tiger has had three Tour wins before the Masters three previous times — and didn’t win at Augusta in any of those years.

The Spurs, too, have lost as the No. 1 seed, and last season they won 20 in a row before losing four straight to the Thunder. So not even phenomenal success is a sign of what is to come.

That’s why the Spurs see games even this late in the season as mostly trials. “We learn as much or more from losses,” said one of the assistants Monday, and they needed to learn a few things after Houston.

Such as: How to defend James Harden without fouling.

Now comes something else entirely on Sunday. Heat-Spurs has been circled on the calendar for a while, and now Miami has a 27-game winning streak that threatens the NBA record of 33.

“If they get through San Antonio,” Jeff Van Gundy said during Monday’s telecast of the Heat, “they are getting the record.”

The game would be fun. The media would descend, the outcome would be newsworthy.

But ultimately?

There’s a difference between a good month and next month, as the world’s No. 1 golfer knows.